Conservative Jews to revisit issue

Religion briefs

NEW YORK - The lawmaking body for the Conservative branch of Judaism has agreed to reopen discussion of its ban on same-sex unions and ordaining homosexuals.

Rabbi Reuven Hammer, president of the movement's Rabbinical Assembly, requested the review late last month, after the lay president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Judy Yudof, said many Conservative Jews had questions about the status of homosexuals. Her group represents about 800 North American congregations.

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, a panel of 25 rabbis, will decide whether its condemnation of gay sex still holds under current interpretations of religious law. The Torah's prohibition against homosexual behavior is the reason Conservative Judaism bars gays from serving as rabbis and cantors.

Hammer said the review will be guided by Jewish law, not by popular opinion or political ideas.

The discussion could take years. The last time Conservative Jews reviewed their policy on gays was in 1992 in a fierce debate that ended in a compromise some dubbed ''don't ask, don't tell.'' The lawmaking committee barred homosexuals from rabbinical schools but promised not to investigate students' sexual orientation. At the same time, the panel urged congregations, youth groups, summer camps and schools to welcome gays.

The slightly larger and more liberal Reform movement ordains homosexuals and blesses same-sex couples, while the smaller and stricter Orthodox does not.

On the Net: http://www.rabassembly.org/

Rift over gay clergy reaching critical point

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The rift in the Presbyterian Church (USA) over actively homosexual clergy has reached another critical point, with developments in two important cases.

In one, the Permanent Judicial Commission - or supreme court - of the 3.5 million-member denomination has overruled protests against the ordination of the Rev. Kathleen Morrison, a lesbian who is open about her sexual orientation.

In a separate case, the commission ordered an unusual trial next Monday in Kansas City, Mo., on whether the denomination's two top officials acted properly in scuttling a special national assembly. Conservatives had filed a petition for the assembly to discipline those defying the church's ban on actively homosexual clergy.

In the Morrison case, the commission said sexual orientation does not warrant special scrutiny of a clergy candidate or make anyone ineligible for ordination. It said the church can only act upon ''direct and specific knowledge'' of individual conduct that violates church policy.

Morrison, who was ordained in California, has moved to Massachusetts and lives with a partner. She is field organizer for an independent caucus of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Presbyterians.

Next week's trial involves a complaint from Westminster Presbyterian Church of Canton, Ohio, against handling of the petition by the Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, titular head of the church this year, and the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, chief executive at church headquarters.

On the Net: PJC texts: http://www.pcusa.org/oga/pjc.htm

Students said to liberalize on abortion

FALLS CHURCH, Va. - Students become more liberal on abortion and other matters while attending Roman Catholic colleges and universities, according to the president of a Falls Church-based group that says schools should strictly follow church teaching.

Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society wrote an article for Catholic World Report magazine citing data from 38 Catholic campuses in standard surveys by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.

While the views of all students generally became more liberal during their college career, the surveys found, the study adds to the long-running debate over Catholic colleges' relation to the church.

Among freshman entering the Catholic colleges, 38 percent supported legalized abortion; four years later 52 percent of the same students held that view. Non-Catholics attending Catholic colleges moved from 63 percent to 72 percent support.

At non-Catholic religious colleges (mostly Protestant), Catholic students' support increased during the four years from 43 percent to 57 percent, and non-Catholics' support from 39 percent to 46 percent.

At Catholic colleges, similar liberalizing attitudes occurred among Catholic students on premarital sex and same-sex marriage. There were also declines in self-reported Catholic religious preference, church attendance and frequency of praying.

Reilly cautioned that the results do not necessarily represent all Catholic campuses, a point college officials also made.

However, Reilly contended, the data indicate ''increasing dissent and declining morality'' during the four years, and it is ''negligence bordering on irresponsibility'' for Catholic educators to ignore the problem.

On the Net: http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org

Saudi Arabia won't permit Christians

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - As Islam's birthplace, Saudi Arabia will never allow churches to be built, said Prince Sultan, the defense minister.

''This country was the launch pad for the prophecy and the message and nothing can contradict this, even if we lose our necks,'' Sultan said in comments reported by Saudi newspapers.

Those who want to establish churches ''are, unfortunately, fanatics,'' Sultan said. ''There are no churches - not in the past, the present or future. ... Whoever said this must shut up and be ashamed.''

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal agency, complained when Saudi Arabia was omitted on the new State Department list of countries that severely limit religious freedom.

Sultan noted that resident foreigners are allowed to worship privately in their homes.

Hong Kong bishop urged to be 'patriotic'

BEIJING - A leader of mainland China's state-sanctioned Catholic Church has urged Hong Kong's top Roman Catholic to support a proposed law to limit allegedly subversive activity.

''We hope Hong Kong's church will be patriotic and love the law,'' said Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan, who heads the government-controlled organization that oversees the mainland church.

Bishop Joseph Zen, the outspoken leader of Hong Kong's Roman Catholic Church, says if Hong Kong's local legislature adopts the bill, Hong Kong churches could be suppressed because of their ties with the underground Roman Catholic parishes on the mainland.

Mainland Christians are only allowed to attend churches sanctioned by the state. Scholars estimate that roughly half the 12 million Catholics worship in underground churches loyal to the Vatican, risking arrest.

Hong Kong's 347,000 Roman Catholics currently operate freely under the autonomy arrangement devised when China took over the British colony in 1997.

Muslim groups announce merger

WASHINGTON - The American Muslim Council and American Muslim Alliance, which have both sought more Muslim involvement in U.S. politics, plan to merge into the new National American Muslim Federation.

The announcement came from Yahya Mossa Basha, chairman of the Washington-based council, and Agha Saeed, chairman of the alliance, which has offices in Newark, Calif., near San Francisco.

Saeed predicted the federation would be ''a far more effective vehicle'' with ''a broader agenda for activism.''

The day the agreement was reached, Basha announced the resignation of Eric Erfan Vickers after less than a year as the council's executive director.